, 1887-11-30
The Secretary Considers the
Public Land Question.
Railroad Grants Come In For
Consideration
Text of His Report Concerning
This Topic.

VI hAhAN StohhoH l. 10 ~ u
lows:
Shortly after my appointment, when /
became somewhat familiar with the pub.
lie land system and the workings thereof,
| became impress ed with the fact chat
the public domain was being diverted
from It's legitimate purposes and convert
ed TO objects, the inevitable effects of
which were repugnant to the law on which
the land system was based. Apart from
the methods of Illegal appropriation OF
the public domain, efec,ed through the
perverslon OF several laws for a curing
title thereto, L became conviu, ed that the
administration of congressional! grants to
wagon and railroads had given rise to
enormous abuses. Congress had rot only
made grants which, in some ms ,nces.
exceeded the extent aud area of Il half
dozen of the largest and most populous
states of the Union, but in addition pro-
vided that any losses of lands within the
granted limits should be satisfied by the
selections of lands within adjoining limits,
thus nearly doubling the area of the orig
nal grants.
Under these acts the land department
had Withdrawn from the public a%ppropri-
alton not only the granted limits as re-
uullCu ny law, Dul hlSO ldulS Wllnll Ile
indemnity limits at the request OF the
grantee companies, thus enormous guam.
titles Of the public lands we're held in res
erVatlon to await the convenience of cor
porations in the construction Of their
roads, the selections of its lands aud the
uncertain adjustments of grants by the d.
partment. do not mean to question the
wisdom of aiding in the construction of
RAILROADS That rnli,,- ~,g ~ 81, ,,.,o q.
wise one. but in the light of ex p%ericnce it
may well be asked whether it would not
have been wiser to have aided those great
enterprises otherwise than by grants of
the pu lie domain. Though much good
which these vast territories passed under
the dominion of railroad companies gave
an incurable wound TO the homestead
scheme. before that scheme had a fair
opportunity of displaying its beneficial
effect This land grant legislation was
certainly not in harmony with the treaty
of distribution of the public domain
among the people and gave up to capital
lists as a basis for traffic and speculation
and gigantic financial schemes, what was
BY the original policy Of the government
designed to be homes for an industrious
and thrifty people, and abodes of domes-
tic happiness, virtue and patriotism.
Not withstandlng, these indemnity with
drawals were made exclusively for the
interest of the companies and few Of
these, if any, constructed their roads
within the time specified. In the grant
ing acts, as an expressed condition of
which the grant was made, maps of pro
able, general, " designated and de
finite routes of said road were filed with
rapidity in the department and the with
drawals Hereunder were asked and almost
lnvaribly granted, until the public lands
in the states and territories, were grid
ironed over with railroad grants and in
demnity limits, and in many instances
;he limits of one road overlapping and
conflicting with other roads in a most be
wildering manner, so that settlers seeking
a home could scarcely fluid a desirable
location that was not claimed by some
one or perhaps two or three roads to
which grants of land had been made.
Though the desired tract might not be
apparently covered by a railroad location,
the settler would hardly select it before
the agents of the corporation would set n
claim 90 it or to a right to occupy and de
nude it under the right Of way and con,
struction privileges conferred by the
granting act Thus the settler, ignorant
OF his legal rights and no one to advise
him with respect to either the law or the
facts, would for the sake of peace readily
consent to purchase from the company.
In this way, these corporations, in addi-
ton to the lands granted to them, have
claimed and sold and received the price of
a great deal OF other land to which they
had neither legal nor moral right. The
confusion, hardship and impositions prac.
ticed upon settlers were greatly increased
by the bold schemes of corporate agents
when Withdrawals we're made of lands to
which legal tltle of the companies had not
attached, and which afterwards remained
in the same condition Tor years through
the failure of congress to make the neces-
sarv appropriations for survey.
When, however, through partial sur
veys or adjustments of grants the lands
thus sold by a company were found to be
outside of the grants, and determined by
the department to be public lands, the
purchaser from the company found him
self in the unfortunate predicament of
having lost both his land and his money
Generally without means to enter into
costly litigation with a powerful corpora
ton. deprived of his home, the eXpendi-
ture and waste of his years, his energy
and strength, in redeeming that home
from its wild condition, it rendered his
mere technical right of action against a
company but little more than mockery.
Years have cllr. since many of the
grants have been al .dc and other years
since the Withdrawals. Some companies
have constructed the entire line of their
roads, others fruGmentary portions only.
and others again none at all. But the
Withdrawals of lands were no loss etfec.
tive as a barrier aRainstthe settlers in the
one case than in the other. 1t mattered
not what might be his harvest acquired
by years of toll Upon what he believed to
be part of the national domain, it was dc
clared by the highest judicial tribunal as
expounded by the highest law officers Of
the executive that Withdrawal once made
by a competent authority was legal and
effective to exclude all from intrusion
within its limits.
One such case where hardship and in
Justice we're about to be inflicted under